Getting to know the site....Howard Smith Wharves

Howard Smith Wharves is one of the last undeveloped riverfront locations in Brisbane city. Brisbane City Council is proposing to transform this unused and partially derelict site. The plan is to create a new riverside parkland that is recognised as one of Brisbane's defining features.

LOCATION:

Birdseye view of the Howard Smith Wharves

Site: Howard Smith Wharves (Scale 1:1000)

The site boundary for the Howard Smith Wharves

The Howard Smith Wharves site is located on the northern side of the Brisbane River, under the Story Bridge at Petrie Bight. It is 3.52 hectares in area and operated as a cargo wharf until the 1960s. It is one of the last remaining wharf sites in the city centre.

SITE HISTORY....

Howard Smith Wharves was constructed in the 1930s in conjunction with the Story Bridge. It was one of the main employment generating projects of the Forgan-Smith government. While the site was originally built as the Brisbane Central Wharves, it was leased by shipping company Howard Smith and Co. from the mid 1930s until the early 1960s and became known as Howard Smith Wharf.

Construction of the site began in 1934. The first structure was a two-storey, reinforced concrete building completed in 1936. Three berths and five new storage sheds were planned and construction continued through until the early 1940s. In 1942, World War II disrupted construction and the third berth was never completed. During 1941 and 1942, five air-raid shelters were constructed below the cliff face.

HERITAGE SIGNIFICANCE:

The site is an important physical, economic and cultural example of development in Queensland. It shows the history of Brisbane as Queensland's premier port. It also shows how the expansion of the city has moved port activities further downstream.

The remaining wharf buildings provide rare physical evidence of the pre-1940 Port of Brisbane and the air-raid shelters are the most intact group of shelters remaining in Brisbane.